New library ebook service launched – Freading

Library Ideas launched a new ebook service for libraries Friday at the ALA Conference in New Orleans.

Freading is a pay-per-use system, and it's launching with 20 thousand titles from over a dozen publishers. Unlike OverDrive or Axis 360, Freading allows for an unlimited number of simultaneous users, but it also charges between 50 cents and $2 for each checkout (renewals cost less).

The ebooks are lent for a 2 week period, and the ebooks are encumbered with Adobe DE DRM.

It goes into beta this summer for 10 libraries, including Orange County Public Library System (FL), the Free Library of Philadelphia, Maricopa County Library District (AZ), Los Gatos Public Library (CA), and the Westport Public Library (CT). Not all of the participating publishers have been announced, but the ones that have include Sterling Publishing,Sourcebooks, Andrews McMeel, and Regnery Publishing.

Post navigation

Nate Hoffelder

Nate Hoffelder is the founder and editor of The Digital Reader:
He's here to chew bubble gum and fix broken websites, and he is all out of bubble gum. He has been blogging about indie authors since 2010 while learning new tech skills at the drop of a hat. He fixes author sites, and shares what he learns on The Digital Reader's blog. In his spare time, he fosters dogs for A Forever Home, a local rescue group.

Related Posts

13 Comments

yuzutea25 June, 2011

Unless they pass the costs down to the patrons, isn’t this going to become seriously expensive for the libraries? As a library user, I’d be ok with paying 50 cents to rent a backlist ebook, though.

It’s an interesting concept, but I wonder how popular it would be. 50¢-$2 is still something compared to free. I’m also inclined to think that those that can afford an ereader are more likely to be able to afford the $5-$10 to own the book.

Maybe a subscription? $20/year gets you ebook access? Or until it’s practically free, I guess I don’t see it being very successful. Part of the glory of ebooks is the instant gratification – buy, download, read.

That’s really not much of a “throttle”, considering the number of patrons libraries have. This doesn’t make much sense in the library model – the more people who download a title, the more expensive it is for the library. That’s the opposite of our typical lending model, and not very sustainable.

It could be expensive, true, but for small libraries it’s far less expensive than the big name vendor’s. To equate the cost to Overdrive – my library would have to circulate 4000 top of the line books a year and then the book purchases would be additional expense. 3M’s system? I’d have to circulate 10k e-books plus buy the books I don’t think my 4000 patron’s are going to do this.

[…] was at PLA 2012 this week, and they had their 2 pay-per-use services on display.Freading initially caught my eye because it’s not your usual library ebook service. Rather than sell titles, Freading lets […]